My kids love pizza and recently we were talking about Chicago Style Pizza. They had never tried it before so I decided to take a shot at making some gluten free. I reviewed lots of recipes online, but decided on a simple one using the Betty Crocker gluten free rice flour blend. Although my crust didn’t rise too much (I only gave it an hour so next time I’ll try it longer) the result was one of the best gluten free pizzas we’ve had as a family. The kids and everyone in attendance loved it.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/4 cup coarsely ground yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons kosher salt

4 tablespoons canola (or other neutral) oil

3/4 cup warm water (about 100° F)

1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for drizzling

Directions

In a medium-size bowl or the bowl of your food processor, place the flour, xanthan gum, cornmeal, yeast, sugar and salt and stir or pulse to combine.

To the flour mixture, add the 4 tablespoons of canola oil and the water in a steady stream, either pulsing in a food processor or mixing with a spoon or fork to combine. If you are using a food processor, pulse while streaming in the water, until a ball begins to form. Otherwise, stir constantly while streaming in the water and continue stirring until the mixture begins to come together. If the dough seems super sticky, add some more flour a tablespoon at a time, and stir or pulse to combine. Press the dough into a disk.

Place the dough in another medium-size bowl and drizzle it with the olive oil. Turn the dough to coat it with oil. This will prevent a crust from forming on the dough while it is rising. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place it in a warm, draft-free area to rise until it is about 1 1/2 times its original volume (about 1 hour or more).

After the dough has risen, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

When you are ready to make the pizza, preheat your oven to 425° F. Grease well with canola oil a 12 inch round baking dish or a cast iron skillet if you have it.

Press the pizza dough evenly into the bottom of the pan and up the sides, leaving a small clean edge toward the top of the pan so there aren’t exposed edges that can burn easily during baking. The corn meal will have made the pizza dough much less smooth and pliable than ideal, but it is worth it for the taste in the final product. Trust me.

To assemble the pizza, use whatever ingredients you like. Slather the bottom and sides of the crust with softened unsalted butter. This will give the crust a nice buttery taste. Then layer in slices of cheese of provolone cheese then whatever else you like (I used cooked italian bulk sausage, pepperoni, fresh basil, bacon fresh sliced tomatoes, & mozzarella cheese), cover with tomato sauce and a thin layer of finely grated Parmesan cheese.

Tent the pan with aluminum foil, and place it in the center of the preheated oven.

Bake for 20 minutes, uncover, and bake again until the sauce and cheese are bubbling and the crust is nicely browned (about another 10 minutes).

Occasionally I will try to make a meatless dinner for my family. Sometimes this doesn’t go over well because my nine year old son dislikes most veggies and my husband and daughter are both cut from the same carnivore cloth, but I still give it the old college try. Last week I made a dish that all of them seemed to enjoy….eggplant rollatini. I’ll give you a word of warning, I started this dish about two hours before I wanted it to be ready because there are several steps to it, but the final dish was super yummy!

Ingredients:

3 medium eggplants, sliced lenghtwise 1/3 inch thick

2 T plus 2 tsp sea salt

28 oz can peeled plum tomatoes

2 red bell peppers, roasted

2 large basil sprigs

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 extra virgin olive oil

15 oz container of ricotta cheese

1/2 c mascarpone cheese

1/4 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated

1/2 c parmesan grated

Place eggplant slices on paper towels and sprinkle both sides with 2T of salt. Allow slices to release bitterness (let set for 20-30 minutes). Begin making your sauce by cutting tomatoes in large chunks, combine with peppers in a food processor and puree. Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add tomato puree. Add basil, garlic, oregano and 1 tsp salt. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and then simmer 15-20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F. Cover two large cookie sheets with aluminum foil and brush with olive oil. Wipe excess salt off eggplant and gently squeeze out any moisture using paper towels. Transfer eggplant to cookie sheets and bake about 15 minutes. Allow eggplant to cool. In a large bowl combine ricotta, mascarpone, nutmeg and remaining salt. Transfer half of tomato sauce to 9X13 baking dish. place 2-3 T of cheese mixute onto each eggplant slice and roll up. Lay eggplant seam side down in baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce over eggplant and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake for 20 minutes in oven and then let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

If you haven’t guessed already, I love italian food. Some of our friends recently took a trip to southern Italy and I was so intrigued be the culture and the food. I really want to go there and visit…..who am I kidding? I want to go there and EAT! I’m trying to talk my husband into going in about 5 years to northern Italy…..places like Venice and Tuscany. Until then I will just enjoy this salad from Johnny’s Pizza on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs which combines lettuce, tomatoes, feta cheese, greek olives, salami, pepperoni, capicolla, provolone cheese and ham. I opted for the oil and vinegar dressing. This large salad was huge and full of delicious mediterranean flavors. To try one yourself visit Johnny’s Pizza today!